The loss of skills such as this feels like the end of a thread of social history as much the craft itself. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

The 17th century English writer and historian Thomas Fuller. ❤️

Solidarity Minnesota ❤️ miners wives at Pensioners Peace Vigil US airbase Greenham Common 1984/Minnesota Star Tribune photo 3 days ago

Shakespeare knew - a plague on both our houses - here and in the US ❤️ Ian McKellan

#hope sending love and light #minnesota ❤️

❤️ Minnesota

Time to read this again methinks….

Hello fountain pen hounds, can I introduce you to someone from my family’s history? This is W E Wiley - in the 1850’s he invented a better method of slitting gold pen nibs, thus reducing their cost, so more people could buy them, from a guinea to 5 shillings- he’s a bit of a hero of mine 🖋️ ❤️

As Remembrance Sunday approaches I notice I’m looking at them again as I go down the stairs…

The amazing brigade of knitters/crochet enthusiasts in the UK who produce what we call ‘Post box toppers’ are turning their craft into an Olympic sport here…..❤️

'The Reader.' (1885) Ferdinand Hodler was the star of late-19thC Swiss art. His respect for elderly men led him to use as sitters those who frequented the café near his Geneva home. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement: 'they confided in me, and I listened to them while they posed.'

‘May books never die’ ❤️ www.facebook.com/share/v/16Nt...

❤️ youtu.be/3AeefPqVZKA?...

We’re celebrating our relationship with our historic building and how we managed to save it, all those years ago (with a little help from our friends ❤️) so it continues its original purpose of supporting our local communities. Here’s to the next 10….

‘God knows what’s hiding in this world of little consequence Behind the tears inside the lies A thousand slowly dying sunsets God knows what’s hiding in those weak & drunken hearts.. People help the people’ Cherry Ghost ‘People help the People’ m.youtube.com/watch?v=9U5S... A song for our times ❤️

Happy Mothering Sunday. Here’s me on my Great Grandmother’s knee with my grandmother & my mother, on the right my mother sits on her Great Grandmother’s knee with her Grandmother & mother - my unbroken thread of mother’s love thru poverty, two wars , Depression & the Spanish Flu ❤️ #motheringsunday

Slava Ukraini ❤️

Slightly amazed to discover, I know not how, a book that belonged to Ralph Hart Tweddell, the inventor of the portable riveter, which had a big impact on ship building and other industries…’The Arts and Industry of All Nations’ 1860 quite a book and quite a man #engineers 💙 📚

Looking forward to starting this jigsaw from the Bodleian Library….🧩🧩💙📚

Post an old photo in your possession & say why you like it. This photo hangs on our landing, the Cambridge University Golf Blues in 1913. My husband’s gfather is 3rd from the left. He’s 22. What sense did they have of what was to come? On the back I recorded what happened to them all/1

Splendid works by Hungarian art nouveau mosaicist/glass artist Miksa Róth (early 1900s) www.facebook.com/rothmiksamoz...

How exactly do you live with 80 minutes of memory? This book is a thing of beauty…the Professor believes in the beauty of miscalculation for teaching you as much as getting it right ❤️#booksky 💙📚

Post an old photo in your possession and say what you like about it….this feels like that moment of stillness, just before the noise of the Great War. These unknown members of my family, gliding gracefully towards disaster #Birdsong #oldphotoalbum

It's incredible how such small books has had such a huge impact on literature & love of reading. I have always adored Beatrix Potter's tales. Which one is your favorite?

This little book, 169 years old, belonged to my great, great, great grandfather, George Purser, who signs it when he is 13 years old. His father, James, works as a Beadle at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, (900 years old in 2023) - there have been beadles at the hospital since the 1500’s. /1

The censorship algorithm on Twitter reduced our audience by roughly 95%, and seriously, who does that to a wildlife biology & advocacy group ? So we moved 😇 over here to BlueSky If you could, please help us regain our following Follow Retweet and Repeat ;-) Together we can change the world.

This year more than 20% of the enquiries we received were from people researching their family history. They've used our parish records, hospital admission and discharge registers, and nurse training records to track their ancestors #ArchivesAdventCalendar #Family #Geneaology

Post an old photo in your possession & say what you like about it….This little chap is unknown but part of my Birmingham family history. He lives on the mantelpiece, he’s so proud of his outfit. It was taken by HJ Whitlock, famous photographers of the Royal Family c1830’s #geneaology #oldphotoalbum

Here’s my Bobbin Robin he sings to me every morning for suet pellets ❤️

Post a photo in your possession & say what you like about it. My mother, in the garden of the family home in Camberwell.l, South London. Whenever she passed this photo she’d tap the glass & say ‘We always had shoes’. I like it because in spite of grinding poverty she’s laughing ❤️ #oldphotoalbum

It’s 2025 in New Zealand, just wanted to report the year is going great so far I have not read anything

Book Cover of the Day:

Happy New Year from Dorothy Parker (and me).

Post an old photo in your possession & say what you like it about it.. The juxtaposition of the man on the safety of the boat and the man on the ice. Winter proper: Thames 1947 ❄️ #theoldphotoalbum

The ‘No idea what day it is’ post Christmas jigsaw is up and running….❤️ Roy Kittenstein😻

From my pocket….another story with its roots deep in our family tree. The characters in this story, seen below, became part of a chain of events that finally, it’s believed, became the inspiration for a famous Victorian novel…maybe you recognise one of them? Pull up a chair and I’ll begin….💺📚💙

It’s a hundred years old tradition in these parts that a horse be ridden thru the bar of our local hostelry on Christmas Day, in order to maintain the rights of an ancient bridleway that passes through the pub❤️🎄#history #community

This book lives on in my ❤️ at Christmas. Old Winter. 📚💙 Illustration copyright © 1950, 1998 by C.S. Lewis Pte. Ltd.

‘Granny got a Sprout stuck up her Sneezer’ is one of the best children’s book titles ever 🤣❤️📚💙

In December, I always find the much loved copy of a book that has won the heart and imagination of every child I’ve ever read it with. It is for me, the finest kind of story writing for children, every page invites ‘What happened next?’ & the illustrations are utterly ❤️ (plus the title’s awesome)

Here’s my remarkable Great Aunts Lydia & Grace - they cycled the length & breadth of England on bikes that weighed ten tons, in their knickerbockers. Members of the CTC (Cycling Touring Club) their legendary cycling certificates are in the National Cycling Museum. They were avid postcard collectors…

‘May you be blessed with good friends. May you learn to be a good friend to yourself.’ Sleep well all…😴

George Callaghan. Irish born artist. Thanks for looking. Back Tomorrowith more. Helen 🎄🤶📚

But what about George and James? The amazing archive at St Bart’s awaits a visit from me where there are all sorts of records about beadles 🔍 #geneaiogy #familystories

Dickens wrote about the poverty ridden experience of my mother’s London family and they loved him for it. My house is full of copies of his works from all my grandmothers through the ages…

🩸 Bleeding Heart Yard still survives today londonvisitors.wordpress.com/2019/09/07/h...

Bleeding Heart Yard was a small dead end road, home to Fagin’s den of thieves in ‘Oliver Twist’ and Dickens wrote about it again in ‘Little Dorrit’

In 1841 you could find him and his father, James and mother, Sarah in Bleeding Heart Yard near Hatton Garden 💔 how my family survived there I only have admiration for …